Pirate Bay Guilty of Copyright Infringement: UK High Court

The future of British users accessing The Pirate Bay for media content is in doubt after the High Court rules the site is guilty of copyright infringement.

The popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay (TPB) infringes on copyrights, according to a ruling from the High Court of the United Kingdom, which could lead to the site being blocked in Britain. The decision whether or not to block the site will be made in June. The court found the operators of TPB induce, incite or persuade its users to commit infringements of copyright, and that they and the users act pursuant to a common design to infringe.
Justice Arnold wrote in his judgment that since the operators profit from their activities, they are jointly liable for the copyright infringements committed by its users. In my judgment, the operators of [The Pirate Bay] do authorize its users' infringing acts of copying and communication to the public, he wrote. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting.

The judge said that despite the judicial findings that have been made against them, the operators of TPB have taken no steps to prevent infringement. "On the contrary ¦ they actively encourage it and treat any attempts to prevent it (judicial or otherwise) with contempt," he wrote. Further, Justice Arnold noted the for-profit company, which brings in millions from on-site advertising, "does not operate the Website for altruistic reasons."

The chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry Geoff Taylor toldThe Guardian newspaper the site defrauds musicians and causes huge damage to the music industry and other creative industries. "The ruling helps clarify the law on Website blocking, and we will now proceed with our application to have the site blocked to protect the U.K.'s creative industries from further harm," he said. "The ruling helps clarify the law on Website blocking, and we will now proceed with our application to have the site blocked to protect the U.K.'s creative industries from further harm."
In November 2010, a Swedish appeals court today upheld the convictions of three founders of TPB who had been accused of violating copyright laws. While the site remained in operation, the Svea Appeals Court refused to reverse the convictions of Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom. The court did, however, slash the prison sentences of the defendants, who had each been ordered to spend a year in prison in 2009.
Under the appeals court's ruling, Neij was resentenced to 10 months, Sunde to eight months and Lundstrom to four months. The court also raised the amount of fines the trio has to pay to the entertainment industry to 46 million kronor ($6.5 million). The lower court ruling has assessed fines of 32 million kronor ($4.5 million).
In my judgment, the courts of [United Kingdom of Censorship] do authorize its judges' acts of corruption and being technically uneducated. They go far beyond merely enabling and assisting, read a taunting entry posted to the author Y-day on TPBs blog after the ruling was handed down. I conclude that both judges' and the politicians of [the United Kingdom of Censorship] infringe the rights of the people... in the world.
The Swedish-based Website calls itself "the worlds most resilient BitTorrent site."

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.